Creativity

February 03, 2015

So yesterday, as the snow blew and blustered outside - and while the baby napped - I got around to a little domestic paperwork. It being February, I pulled last month's journal pages from my binder and filed them in my Yearbook binder behind the January tab.

I then sat down with a piece of paper and some sticky notes (and a cup of cocoa!) to do some indexing and I thought I'd share with you what I wrote down ... it might give you an idea of the kinds of things I "journal" about and also, some of my deep winter "thoughts and themes" might strike a cord with you! :)

The whole process took me about 30 minutes. I flipped through the journal pages and read over each notation/clipping. If it was something I would want to remember (or return to) I jotted it down on a loose-leaf "index page." (Which would later be added to my Jan-Feb binder.) If it was something I needed to act on soon or record on another list, I jotted it down on a sticky note ...

So, first, here's a look at my January Journaling:

* spiced white hot chocolate (crockpot)

* first bird of the year (robin)

* blessed chalk handed out at Mass on Jan. 1st

* picked up liturgical wall calendar at Mass

* color of the year announced ("marsala" by Pantone, "guilford green" by Benjamin Moore)

So now my main binder has just a couple of journal pages so far ... but I'm sure by the end of February it will be filled up once again!

Now, before I go I want to show you this particular clipping (above) that I added to my January journal ... it's from a Paper Source catalog and I just set up this very set of chalkboard squares (rectangles, really) on my kitchen wall! I can't wait to show you how I'm using them ... they look fantastic! I'll tell you more in my next post. :)

January 19, 2015

I am checking in quickly this morning - it was a busy weekend and a very late night last night as we cheered on our beloved Patriots ... but I'm quite happy to say this morning that we are going to The Superbowl!! Well, not us personally of course - but our team will be there! And we'll be there too, if only in spirit, watching at home in New England.

:)

Anyhoo, suffice it to say I was not able to watch Downton Abby last night (or TGBBC either). I hope to catch them one night this week and when I do I will get a "Masterpiece Monday" post up so we can chat - only it will probably be more like "Masterpiece Wednesday or Thursday."

So today, I'm a bit sleepy-eyed and slow-moving (much like my Oliver up top), but I'm going to do some catch-up here as I find time. So many of you have left wonderful comments and I can't wait to read and digest and respond. I will also continue working on several upcoming journal/planner drafts, and while I don't have any of them quite ready to post yet, I will answer this quick question from Kelly, because I think I have a pretty brief answer.

I thought of one additional question, Dawn - could your journal be described as a scrapbook? I love the idea of it but as I mentioned, I tend to keep parts of my life organized differently so I'm having a hard time seeing how this fits in. Understanding it as a scrapbook helps me to understand this better.

Kelly, my journal is a collage of memories and observations, mostly about family, current events and the turn of the seasons. I don't, however, include photographs or stickers ... and it's not all that planned ahead or thought out. And I don't really show other people (though I certainly could and hope I might someday).

So I consider my journal habit to be a form of scrapbooking, just maybe not as formal or clever. I dabbled in Scrapbooking, as a hobby, many years ago when Bookworm was little. I attended "Creative Memories" parties and subscribed to Creating Keepsakes ... and collected TONS of scrapbooking supplies. I remember when I started blogging I called it a kind of "online scrapbooking" ... and that's when my love of photography and capturing memories really kicked in. I couldn't seem to sit down and create pages, but I could upload photos to my computer and write (rather lengthy) texts to go along with them.

Our photos now are stored here at my blog and on my (personal) Facebook page as well as on our home computer. Oh, and my phone. Bill just offloaded about 1100 pictures because I'd used up my storage space - in about a month, lol!

(All that said, I think digital photography has made true, in-your-hands photo albums, a rarity these days. And that's a shame, because those types of memory books are wonderful to display and share with friends and family. That might be a great topic for a post - storing and sharing family photos - though, come to think of it, we might have done that already, lol ... )

Well, this wasn't as brief as I thought it would be, but I hope I've answered your question, Kelly. Please let me know if that cleared things up for you, and if it didn't, feel free to ask for more clarification. Thanks so much for reading and caring and sharing!

One more shot of Oliver because ... well, just because:

:)

My friends, I hope you will excuse a bit of a pause as I get my gears going this week - we're heading back to formal lessons and everything else that comes with it! (I've made note of several homeschool-planning questions and have a draft started!) And I think I might have found a solution for my weekly planning sheet/clipboard conundrum. Photos to come!

January 17, 2015

A whole bunch of pretty white carnations - a January tradition in our house! Next week we'll add drops of food dye to the water and see how the petals change color ...

:)

Now, before I launch into the actual Q & A, I first want to say that I am doing these posts as a way of clarifying things I've mentioned previously but have perhaps not been clear (always a risk when one's as wordy as I am!) and to open up a discussion with other like-minded people. And obviously to answer specific questions! What I don't mean to imply - in any way at all - is that I'm some sort of all-knowing expert on journals and journaling or planners and planning!

*grimaces just thinking about that misperception*

Ok, hardly! Lol. It's just that I focus a lot of time and energy on this topic and I absolutely LOVE comparing notes, thinking out loud, and hearing how others do things ... I find your comments so interesting and insightful! And I'm thrilled when readers connect here and help each other out. Please always feel free to jump in and chat! And of course I always love more questions ...

So today's journal/planner question is from Amy and it concerns both journal and planner:

I have a new question. Maybe someday you will have time to answer it. And of course we would love a post about mothers, and time! I'd write it myself if I had the time, lol!

Q: How do you use this domestic journal separate from your weekly planner? Is it not redundant, in a way?

Amy, I really love this question because it's one I mull over myself sometimes. I'm always trying to reign myself in and simplify things ... because I tend to create more tools than I probably need. But the short answer is Yes, the journal and planner are a bit redundant ... in some ways. But they each serve a unique purpose and I could not do without one or the other!

Now for the long answer ...

The journal is free-form and fluid ... a continuous stream of thought. It's filled with wordy blurbs I wouldn't put in my planner (nature notes, family memories, lesson ideas) and clippings of all kinds. It's a bit messy to be sure - but for me, that kind of adds to the charm. :)

With the journal I get to unload all the thoughts and ideas and observations that cross my brain throughout the day. They are usually seasonal or timely in some way. I add bits of magazines, newpapers, ticket stubs and other random memorablia. It lets me be creative and a bit "artsy" (if quite humbly so) and when I look back at it (even years later) it brings me SUCH joy. I get a real feel for the time in which it was written - the season, the year and where we were in those days as a family. Reading about the things that mattered then and the things the boys were doing is a gift. I never worry about my journal being "perfect" because its very imperfection makes it precious.

On the other hand, the planner is more formal, with more of a framework, and its pages are all assigned a date. With the planner, I get a grasp on what's happening when, where we're going, when we're home, what's important or special this week and what my family needs from me. If Crackerjack tells me he needs a stick of butter for Spanish class on Thursday (lol, true story), I write it in the planner - because on Thursday I'll be reviewing that agenda. I could write that in the journal because it's a neat remembrance, but it would have far less chance of being remembered when it's needed!

This new planner I made with a bit more flourish - space for doodles and quotes, for instance - but that's just because I'm hoping it might help me write that book I have in mind. And also, because when I think of the "perfect" planner, should one exist, each week's page would have a very seasonal and personal feel. The trick though is to keep it clean and not too cluttered. It's a tough balance. I've toyed with the idea of using colored pens as many people do ... but I can't break away from the pencil habit.

I keep both the journal and planner on my workspace at all times and my workspace is usually my kitchen counter. It's a comfort to me to have them both in the open in this way so I can work easily in one or the other - or both!

Amy, I feel like I talked in circles a bit, so if I can clarify further, please let me know. I am typing this up while Little Bear naps and he's making little snuffly noises so my "free" time is coming to an end. Thank you for asking your question and for your contribution to this ongoing conversation ... I look forward to chatting more!

My friends, enjoy your Saturday evening ... my boys are "making me" watch Toy Story 3, lol - because I've actually never seen it and "that just won't do." ;) Sounds good to me ... homemade pizzas are in the oven and I have a salad to toss, so I'll be off!

January 03, 2015

In tonight's post I am finally going to show you my newly made weekly planner, and in a follow-up post I will show you the rest of my planning tools and how the new planner will (hopefully) fit into the overall planning repertoire. Such as it is.

(This post is about planning in case you weren't sure, lol.)

But to be honest, I'm a bit shy about showing you now, because it's really a very simple thing. Like, super simple. It is though, all hand-drawn because ... well, I'm just that persnickity. And so it took me a bit longer than usual to pull it all together. And if the hand-drawing part wasn't enough, I also have a toddler in the house ... and a few more boys plus a husband ... and a couple of cats ... and there was that little thing called Christmas that happened ... ;)

Anyhoo! It's a weekly planner - because I really look at my time in increments of *this week* and all that applies to that framework of time. How busy will we be? When are we in/when are we out? What special events are we noting/observing/celebrating perhaps? What will our Sunday dinner be? What learning themes are we working around? What's happening at Church this week? What household projects am I tackling?

And now for the breakdown ...

1. Planner Cover: a pretty piece of scrapbook paper seen above, plain and simple. (I've since attached a label as seen in the top photos.) I declined the plastic cover sheet offered by Staples when I had the binding done, just as I always do. "But it's free," the Staples associate said, eyebrows raised. Well, that plastic just doesn't sit right with me, so I guess I'll have to take my chances.

2. Planner Paper: Ok, bear with me now ... I used all Staples-brand, loose-leaf, college-ruled paper. (I told you this was nothing fancy!) I have been journaling on this particular paper for a long time and it just feels good when I write on it. (Paper-and-pen enthusiasts will know what I mean.) It's very smooth, the lines are light and I'm very comfortable with it, so when I was getting my planner started I thought, why not use my regular ol' loose-leaf? So what if there are holes along the edges? I can overlook that. (I'm pretty sure.) And it took the coil binding just fine.

3. Title Page: "Living the Seasons ~ at Home * in Nature * with Faith ~ a weekly planner for 2015" Now, I've never named my planner before, but as I've mentioned, I'm trying toplanning togoing to write a book this year and I'm hoping this planner will provide something of an outline for my writing.

(You see how simple this all is? Just regular pencil on everyday paper ... I was tempted to try using colored pens or pencils ... maybe washi tape ... and get a little more creative with it, but I held off. I hope I will add my own random flourishes through the seasons as inspiration strikes.)

4. Emergency and Personal Information - I didn't include a photo of this page for privacy reasons, but this is on the backside of the title page, and includes numbers I need to know and remember (for myself or someone else should they need it). Allergy information, and the like.

5. Months of the Year Overview: (Shown above.) Basically, this is an outline of the major events of the 12 months of the year. Things like birthdays, feast days, Sacraments, full moons, major sporting events (the ones we care about) and daylight savings time, etc.

6. Weeks of the Year Overview: This might seem redundant, but it helps me to see each week listed out this way. It's a two-page spread with one line for each week, Jan-Jun on the left-hand page and Jul-Dec on the right. With this overview I can see at a glance (and maybe underline or highlight in some way) the specific events we will focus on, and this will give shape to my weekly themes. (eg. 1/19-2/25 snowflakes and shortbread)

7. Monthly Appointment Calendars: Because I envision myself taking this planner out and about with me, I'll need these calendars when making appointments at the doctor, dentist, hairdresser, etc.

*By the way, I used an engineering ruler to make all the grids, columns and rows, etc. (My dad is a structural engineer and I've always preferred this style ruler.) It seems like a lot of work - but while it is time-consuming, it's not hard at all. It's actually quite rhythmic.

8. Looking Ahead to 2016: Notes for that year ... any big plans or events or hopes (academic activities, career goals, home/garden projects, travel plans, etc.)

9. Weekly Goals/Routine: An overview of how I wish to use each section in the weekly planning page: of note, theme, suppers, to-do, at home, in nature, with faith, blog, $ log, intentions

10. Around the Home ~ Monthly Projects: I have a monthly cleaning schedule for myself this year - I've divided the house by rooms/zones and assigned walls to weeks. That sounds strange, I know, but I will explain more in a future post. (January is assigned the Master Bedroom and I begin with one wall a week ... hoping to complete the circuit of the house by Christmas, 2015!) I have it typed out on my phone (written during nursing/naptimes!) and will transcribe the schedule here on this page.

11. The Months & Weeks of the Year: And here we are at last at the heart of the planner! Each month has a pretty vintage paper divider (and I might eventually add a tab), a sheet for a monthly letter from myself to ... well, myself, lol. About homey, domestic, garden and parish matters and such. And then there are two planning pages per week which I have shown below ...

*Note: I've already changed this part a bit - instead of that chatty letter, I am using this sheet for general notes for the month. For example, "Visit New England Aquarium" in March and "Attend backyard chickens seminar at local co-op" in April. The "domestic letter" is being moved to another spot ...

The February divider page:

The April divider page (back side) and the April, 2015 domestic letter page:

The weekly planning sheet for Week #14 (March 30 - April 5):

The planning sections I created are: of note (special days/events) * theme (tea/craft) * suppers * to-do * at home * in nature * with faith * blog * $ log * notes * intentions (prayer). (This is the sheet I used to staple to the front of my file folders.)

The week-at-a-glance agenda:

I modeled this planner set-up after a Payne planner I've used off and on through the years - and though I liked it, it always left me wanting something a little more personal. I have space all around for notes and quotes, scribbles and remembrances ... and the space at the bottom of each column is for daily chores and reminders (eg. clean bedrooms (M), clean bathrooms (T), etc.).

The weekly review:

(Sorry this picture isn't so great!) The final page in each week's section is a review page with a section for each of my four boys, where I can jot down notes about their week. Lessons/activities/things they said or did. The college boy's section is the small spot at the bottom since I'll probably have the least to say about him!

(Ok, true confession - I only finished drawing the pages up through May so far. But all the pages and sheets for the rest of the year are bound in there ... they just need a little pencil work and they'll be ready to go. I will get them done soon as I like to plan ahead as much as possible.)

***

Now, the last section of the planner is just an extra bunch of sheets for notes and then at the very back I have a piece of tagboard to make the planner sturdy:

(Fyi, I bought a package of tagboard for a couple of dollars at the Paper Source.)

Here's a look at all the divider pages - each month has such a pretty page with floral/seasonal images on front and then old-fashioned text on the back as seen here ...

On New Year's Day, I brought my (mostly) done planner to Staples where a very nice associate bound it for me for all of $4. (I always choose coil over comb binding.) It wasn't the first time I had a planner bound here but I am always a little shy about doing so because well, some people just don't get it. Not that anyone's ever said anything to me, but I sometimes wonder what on earth they are thinking as they see all my scribbles and goals and designs. But what was kind of neat was this woman happened to be an avid letter writer (she thought I might be making a journal) who has pen pals all over the world. She said I had given her an idea to have her letters (all hand-written and many pages long) bound in this way, as keepsakes. I was very glad to have given her an idea and support a fellow (sister?) paper-crafter!

(I also left thinking ... could I write and bind my own book ... and then sell it online? Hmmm. Totally getting away from myself now ... and the subject at hand!)

So there you have it, my friends - everything you ever wanted to know about my new weekly planner - and then some! (Though if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask.) I've only had it a few days, but so far I LOVE IT. The planner lies flat and the paper is smooth and the pages turn comfortably ... it looks and works like a regular spiral-bound notebook, only I hand selected the pages myself. Most of all, I'm hoping it helps me keep up with my busy household while truly savoring the seasons as they pass ... :)

*❤*

I'll wrap up now - I've kept you so long! But I thank you as always for joining me and wish you all a pleasant evening and a happy Sunday tomorrow. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones ... and I'll see you here again very soon!

December 30, 2014

These are pictures from my planner-making session yesterday ... such as it was, lol! I was crouched at the foot of my bed, my baby snoozing soundly above me, settled in cozily amongst the laundry I should have been folding. There was a hope chest for my desk, a floor for my, ahem, seat and a (clean) diaper as my coaster. (Note the tea mug, please - it's part of a new set of dishes my folks gave me for Christmas! More on that later ...)

We do what we have to, don't we Mamas? :) Not perhaps "ideal" working conditions, but I got about two hours' worth of creating done!

I enjoyed my tea, the sounds of soft snores and an abundance of natural light as the winter afternoon waned ...

But I ended up moving my work to the floor because my knees were killing me!

Below are the master sheets for the weekly spread ...

I'm under a deadline, folks - trying to get it all drawn, assembled and bound by New Year's Day! (I love a deadline don't you?) It's a fairly humble work of art heart, but I'm rather fond of it already. And I'll be showing you what it all looks like once I finish ... so do check back again in a few days!

February 09, 2014

Good Sunday evening, my friends ... I hope you've all had a nice weekend!

Recently I've had a few requests to post about my current planner (slash-journal), and of course I'm happy to do so! But first, a little heads-up ...

This is a really, really long post about a very specific topic (my planner/journal), and it kind of got away from me ... like far, far away from me ... and now the day has grown late and I just don't have time to go back in and tighten it up! So please excuse the size of the post - if you (like me) enjoy looking at and hearing about other people's planners (journals, etc.) then this is the post for you!

(And if not, that's ok, too - I'll see you here another time!)

Now, I've actually had a draft in the works for a while now - but, you know how it is ... my planner wasn't exactly the way I wanted it ... I needed to tweak a few things, find the perfect paper, etc. ... so I kept putting the post off until I could get things "just right. But then I figured, it may not be perfect or polished - but I have been using it consistently, and it has been working pretty well for me ... and for goodness sakes, this blog is all about what's real and "right now" in my life, so I'm not going to put it off any longer!

:)

So, care to join me for some planner show-and-tell?

First off, here's my little workstation - a spot where I can stash my binders, the file crate, a bills/correspondence basket, my shopping notebook, etc. I'm using two main binders right now - one that stays put (red), and one that I use through the day (aqua).

Shop talk: These are Martha Stewart binders from Staples. She doesn't have a wide range of colors (I think just black and brown aside from the two colors I chose) but they're well-made and the rings are quiet and smooth. They can also be manipulated one-handed, a very convenient feature for me these days!

The aqua "Planner/Journal" holds the following tabs: Monthly Calendars, Seasons, Weekly Planning, Daybook, Journal Index. This is the binder I work in daily and it's almost never to be found in that workstation shown above. I keep it open on the kitchen counter, or dining table or right here on this sunny window sill in the living room ... wherever is most convenient at the time. I refer to it - and use it - throughout the day, which is why I moved my journal pages here. (You might recall how important my journals are to me, so this was a big move. More on that in a minute ...)

These are good old Day-Timer refills - I buy a pack of 12 months for about $15. I have used these for years and no other calendar makes me as happy. Yes, I've tried others (as I've blogged about before) but I keep coming back to the Day-Timer brand because it just looks and feels right. One full month spread across two pages (8.5x11), lightly-lined and generously-sized blocks ... understated shades and a smooth writing surface. It truly does make a difference when your calendar works really well for you in both a practical and aesthetic sense ...

{Some of you will be rolling your eyes at my persnicketiness, while others will be nodding your head knowing just what I mean!}

Now, I'll come back to this section - because this is where I'm actively planning and journaling each day - but very briefly, the rest of my planner is laid out like this:

Seasonal: Brainstorming for each season: holidays, feast days, natural phenomena, little comforts and joys. All the things I weave into our family year.

Weekly Planning: Here's where I keep the planning sheets I use with my weekly file folders. I store them here and then remove one each week to staple to the front of the new week's folder.

Daybook: Journal pages filed for current season.

Journal Index: A dated list of items I'd like to return to - recipes, etc.

Also, because this binder is obviously not pocketbook-friendly, I do use a smaller "pocket" calendar when I am out and about - at the dentist or hairdresser, etc. I "sync up" this little monthly calendar with just the basics - appts., classes, or events to attend.

Ok ... still with me?

Here is my current journal page, sandwiched between the February calendar:

On Friday I jotted down notes about the bluebirds we spotted, project plans I want to start, a future post idea, a potential book title ... and I also added a newspaper clipping about the Olympics and a couple of recipes.

As some of you might remember, I've journaled for YEARS and it has almost always been in a very particular (inexpensive) spiral-bound notebook, prettied up with scrapbook paper. I have tons of these notebooks in storage dating back years. Well, as I was analyzing my overall planning routine, I realized that my favorite planning components are the monthly calendar grid and my daily journal, so I decided to build my planner around them.

So now I keep a week's worth of journaling inside the current monthly calendar and at the end of the week I read back over them - add notes to an index - and then file them away. Situated in between the current journal pages, I have a page marker which is a two-sided reminder list of all my daily chores, Monday - Sunday:

There is a red tab at the top which helps me find my place quickly. This chores list is another neat item to have in front of me on a daily basis because even though I do the same things over and over, it's helpful to have a routine. A day when certain things are done so they actually get done. (And just for the record, the list is out of date because it still applies to our old house. I need to revise it.)

So what is the journal for, exactlly?

Well, a little bit of everything, really. I write the date in the margin, wherever I left off the day before (not necessarily a new page - this is like a stream of consciousness), and then anything and everything that comes to mind. I also add little clippings I find in the daily paper and assorted magazines I read. (I read a LOT.) It's a real hodgepodge of thoughts, ideas and memorabilia - and the less eloquent side of me might call it a "brain dump," lol. It's a way of being creative, and preserving the days of the year, and for me, it's a way of capturing our life as it passes.

Now, a question I get a lot is how do I find things that I put in there? Well, originally, the plan was to go through each seasonal journal before the next season arrived. So, right now I'd be combing back through last Winter's journal(s) to remind myself of things to look for or do. This worked relatively well when I had less children and those children were smaller. I seemed to have more time back then to do things like that, but nowadays I just don't have that kind of time. I do love looking back at my journals, but it's something I do on occasion, not as a regular part of my planning routine.

So instead, I use an index. Once a week I look back at the journaling I've done and "forward" any information I need to follow up on. (To-do items I scribbled down, reminders, gardening ideas, etc.) Any recipes or crafts I added to the journal I write down in my index (2.8 - Winter Apricot Tart, Linzer Cookies).

Another question I get is how do you decide which recipes go in the journal and which get filed with your general recipe collection (or in a particular week's folder)?

Well, yes it's all kind of haphazard, I'll admit - as I said, it's not perfect! But I so love including seasonal things in my journals, and recipes and crafts are a big part of that. "Seasonal" is the key - if it's very seasonal in nature, (and especially if it's pretty to look at) it goes in the journal.

So for example, the two recipes I mentioned above are both very symbolic of this time of year. The apricot tart is made with dried winter fruit (I found it in the Boston Globe's food pages, underneath, "Seasonal Food") and the linzer cookies were part of a Valentine special in People magazine. Both of these recipes sound wonderful for this time of year so I added them to my journal. I also wrote down the information where to find these recipes in my index.

It's probably frustating to hear me describe this because I know it doesn't quite make sense, lol. It's not entirely logical! But hey, it works for me - I love making up these pages with all these bits and pieces of the day ... reflecting the season, my family's life and current news.

I find it very cathartic to journal, even when I'm not expressing deep, soulful thoughts and ideas. (And really, I'm usually not.) It's a creative impulse I have, and the journal really feeds that need in me - to capture my days and create my own reflection of the world around me.

:)

Ok, I'm going to stop here because I really shouldn't keep you any longer. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment below, just keep in mind, I don't mean to offer this planner/journal as something that would be helpful or make sense for someone else. I realize this is intensely personal and unique to my own quirks and needs. But as I said at the top of my post, I know I love to see how other people use their planners whether they'd work for me or not - so I hope you enjoyed this post even if you're shaking your head wondering how on earth I get anything done, lol!

Well, my friends, thank you so much for allowing me to share all of this with you, and thanks to all for stopping by. I'm sure you have things to get to - as do I - supper and baths and then maybe a little tv before bed. I will have the Downton chat post up early tomorrow but I'll call it right now - I'll be joining you on Tuesday as my bedtime is drawing near!

A pleasant Winter's evening to you all ... see you here again very soon!

January 19, 2012

I hope your week's going well. I won't be online much today because I'm hosting a gathering here at the house tonight and in between the boys' lessons and activities and a quick grocery stop - there will be much neatening and setting things up! The meeting I'm hosting is our homeschool support group's monthly "support" meeting. The host gets to choose the theme of the meeting and I have chosen to make this night a "Craft Night." :)

I'm not sure what I'll be working on myself - aside from making calendars, I haven't been doing much crafting lately! I may work on my journal, or I may just look through some "idea" books and magazines. Whatever I end up doing, I'll have fun though - just setting up the tea and refreshments and getting to chat with some lovely friends of mine.

{Now, here's a quick question for you, if you have a minute to answer ~ if you were coming to my Craft Night, what would you bring to work on? I'm always curious to know what people do when they craft!}

Also, while I'm here and before the morning tide pulls me away ... I wanted to answer a couple of questions. Folks are wondering where I find out about the special "national" days that celebrate things like "Winnie the Pooh," "squirrels" and "popcorn," etc.

Well, first of all, if you google any date - along with the word "holidays" - you should come up with a few good hits ... but I like the following sites:

Now, another bit of quick news - my new desk is being delivered today! So you can just imagine how excited I am about that. I'll share all about it once I have it set up ... lots of fun "desk" posts to come ... :)

November 30, 2011

Finished just in the nick of time ... with a littlea lot of help from my mum!

Remember all those months ago, when I came home from the craft store with this?

Well, I really must laugh at myself. There I was thinking I was so ahead of the game, when that tree sat on the top of my bookshelf until just after Thanksgiving! Honestly, I was thisclose to just leaving it plain! But my mother very kindly offered to take it home to paint in time for December 1st. We discussed colors and design, and off she went to the craft store ...

And just 24 hours later, she brought over the nearly finished product! (I say nearly finished only because it still needed numbers and a few embellishments which we did together while the boys ate lunch.)

And here's how it turned out!

I just love how it looks!

As you can see, we chose soft Christmas-y shades of red, gold, green and blue ... and my mum picked out lovely, silvery snowflakes and tiny bits of vintage clip art. For the countdown, we used simple black number stickers (I attached them with tweezers as they were fairly fragile).

And at the very top we placed a beautiful angel ...

Inside the drawers will be tiny treats and notes for the boys ...

And on the back of the tree is a special message:

Now, earlier today I started organizing the things for inside the drawers ...

These are strips of scrapbooking paper and some brightly wrapped chocolates. On the strips of paper I will write an activity or idea for each day (sometimes something special, often very simple) and then roll it up tightly and tuck it inside the drawer alongside a chocolate.

(Note: I write out the strips one night at a time, working off my big list of ideas. I find it hard to plan too far ahead when weather, sickness, and all kinds of other intrusions can upset our plans.)

Now, a word on the chocolates ...

I bought a couple of bags of mixed Lindt "Lindor" truffles, and they conveniently come wrapped in three different colors. So each boy gets a chocolate every third day. Bookworm's are blue (dark chocolate), Crackerjack's are red (milk chocolate) and Earlybird's are gold (white chocolate). Except that, EB can't eat these particular chocolates ...

So what we will do is this:

He will trade me his truffle for a special treat I have on hand just for him.

That's a win-win situation in my book! ;)

Now, I took the above pictures in the front room because it had such great light, but I've since moved the Advent tree to its permanent home, on top of the nature shelf:

The Tree is surrounded by favorite (nature-related) Christmas books, as well as ...

So here we are on the last night of November, and our Advent Tree is ready to go! I can't wait for tomorrow ... December is such a wonderful month, because there are so many special pleasures in which to take comfort and joy. It's my hope our Tree will guide us through Advent, and help us prepare - inside and out - for the happiest day of the year.

~**❤**~

Have a lovely night, my friends, and thank you very much for stopping by. I will see you all again here very soon ...

February 09, 2011

I'm catching up on my comment replies this morning, but I wanted to pop on and link you all to this NEAT journalmaking videoBarb left me recently. It appears to be a clever product line called "Smash" but basically it's what I've been doing with my plain old Mead notebooks - making messy but meaningful journals. :)

So take a peek and enjoy! I'll be back later today with another post (I think, I hope) ... just wanted to stop in and say hello this morning.

February 06, 2011

"My Family Tree" is the focus of Earlybird's bulletin board this month. I worked on the board just after we got home from church today. Well, after we got home from church and after we made pancakes for the kids ... our parish breakfast was canceled due to the terribly icy conditions, and Crackerjack was just crushed! He absolutely loves attending parish breakfast each month. It's his one chance to eat "Froot Loops" and as many pancakes as he wants! (At home he has to fight his brothers for Daddy's flapjacks, lol.)

Anyhoo ... after cleaning up the pancake paraphernalia, Bill and Bookworm headed outside to shovel and I got to work on the bulletin board. I started by taking down the January decorations and leaving just the white paper behind as a "snowy" backdrop.

Then I rolled out a length of brown craft paper and googled a tree image to go by:

After drawing the tree (first in pencil, then in black marker), I cut the shape out. Truth be told, the cutting part was pretty fussy work. The paper kept curling and the smaller branches took patience and very careful cutting. Still, it looked pretty neat set against the white backdrop:

(Obviously not drawn to scale, lol.)

Next I added some seasonal embellishments ...

And then I started adding some familiar faces ...

Since it's his tree, I put EB's picture smack dab in the middle. Then I started hanging more photos around him. I printed out small images and adhered them to ecru gift tags - then tied them to clear pushpins with a bit of red and white baker's string.

His brothers hang off to either side of EB ... with Bill and myself just above, and his grandparents on another branch above that. Dangling down below we have the toad and cat, too. :)

Through the next few weeks we'll add to the tree - great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, etc.

As a final touch I moved our monthly "message" to the top of the board. January was "peace" and February is "blessed" ... and what greater blessing do we have than our family?

Well, I hope you all are having a good weekend. Today is just beautiful - it feels nearly like spring it's so mild! (Relatively speaking, of course.) Forty degrees, bright blue skies and almost-warm sunshine. Best of all - no snow in sight for the rest of the week!

Goodness, do we need a break. Especially these guys ...

Today they shoveled the deck. Yes, the deck had mountains of snow on it! (From the snowfall itself, as well as what came off the roof.) And we still can't get out to the feeders, so the FotF weekend has been kind of a bust. Ah well ... there's always next year! (Another good message to remember on this "Superbowl Sunday." *wink*)

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday my friends ... I'll see you all again sometime soon.

December 30, 2010

Late this afternoon, Earlybird and I made a very simple, colorful banner for the learning room windows. This is a really nice craft to do with kids of all ages.

We started with just a few materials ...

*Construction paper (card stock would be sturdier, but this is what we had on hand)

*Art tissue paper

*Yarn (or twine or a metallic cord would be fun)

*Scissors, hole punch, tape

* A craft punch (ours is in the shape of a snowflake)

(Note: If you don't have a craft punch you could just cut a shape - say, a heart - into the triangle using scissors. Lightly fold the triangle down the middle to center the shape as you cut. You could also use the hole punch to make a design.)

And here's what we did ...

(It took us about 30 minutes to make this - but to be fair, I had Bill's help with some of the cutting and punching.)

1. Cut out triangles in varying shades.

2. Use the craft punch to make an open shape in the middle of the triangle.

3. Use the hole punch to make a hole in the top corners of the triangle. (You could brace the holes with those little reinforcement stickers if you'd like.)

4. Tape a piece of tissue paper to the back of the triangles, covering the punched-out shape.

It looks especially pretty in a sunny window where the tissue paper can catch the light.

With very young children it would be wise to have the triangles and tissue paper already cut out. Let them do the punching (with supervision), taping and threading. They can also help with the hanging, and of course, all the oohing and ahhing. :D

May 02, 2010

So, I've wanted to make these little glass jar lanterns for some time now. The original craft was found in an issue of Family Fun magazine (a clipping that went in my journal at the time) but the base was a jam jar and there were some ribbons as well as beads involved. Possibly, I saw the baby food jar variation somewhere else - or possibly I thought this up myself, I can't be sure.

I completely winged this craft (as I couldn't find the journal page I needed - see previous post for more on that) and gave it my best shot. I started with eight empty baby food jars - soaked in a sudsy sink and stripped of their labels.

(I'm only showing you three prepped jars in this picture because it became clear pretty quickly I was only going to have the time/patience/energy to make one lantern for each of my three boys. I'll save the other five jars for a future project.)

I also had purchased tiny beads - metallic stars, silver butterflies (a favorite subject of Earlybird's recently) and some multi-colored jewel-like beads. I picked up a spool of beading wire and Bill rustled up the wire cutters for me to use.*

*Strangely enough, the wire cutters did not cut the beading wire. If you can believe it, I ended up using my fabric scissors - these tiny hot pink scissors were much stronger and sharper than the cutters!

(In case you can't tell, I have very little experience with beading. Like I said, I was totally winging this craft!)

So my first step was to lasso the rim of the jar with a length of the wire, tie it on one side in a knot ...

... and then start stringing my beads on the long end (the end still attached to the spool) ...

Here is a set of beads - I actually used double this amount.

Half the beads rested on one end of the wire (where it attached to the jar rim) and the other half rested on the opposite side. My final step was to tie off the other side of the wire. I already had a small tea light tucked inside.

I kept it pretty simple - like I said, I don't have much experience with beads and I was really just trying to lend a little color and sparkle to the lanterns. the boys of course could care less what beads I put on the lanterns - they were way more interested in the fire element!

Done!

We hung the lanterns in the garden and then waited for night to fall ...

They came out pretty well, I think!

And they were fun - to make and certainly to look at. :) (The boys also had fun walking their lanterns around the dark back yard.) These would be neat at the Fourth of July (I'm picturing red-white-and-blue beads and stars), Halloween (autumnal colors and shapes) and of course, Christmas (I'm envisioning a possible Advent project).

So there is my lantern craft! I hope you've enjoyed seeing the steps involved and the final product. I would do this again - but I would need to have a few hours of quiet (no distractions) and someone to keep the cat off the worktable! (Lol, Smokey was intent on batting those beads and chewing that wire!)

May 10, 2009

For as long as I can remember, Mother's Day has meant lilacs. My parents have a lovely bush growing beside their porch, and as a child, I would fill vases with blooms for the breakfast table on Mother's Day morning. I would set those flowers on the table, alongside the blue and white china and pink-hued wine glasses and the house would be filled with the most magnificent smell. To me, that sweet heady fragrance is the very essence of May.

Nowadays I feel very fortunate to have not just one, but five lilac bushes growing in my yard! They are all in full and fine bloom right now and as I watched them near their peak this week I formulated a little Mother's Day craft in my mind. I had seen a vase like this in a magazine recently (cannot for the life of me remember which one) and adjusted it to our own requirements.

I used cans of pumpkin as the vase base (emptied and washed out, natch). I also used wide pretty ribbon, small doilies and glue. That was all we needed for the vases - for the gift tags I gathered plain white tags, a red stamp pad and a black permanent pen.

Using just a touch of glue on the ribbon ends, I wrapped the clean cans with ribbon as tightly and as neatly as I could. I then glued a doily to the bottom of the cans. I set them to dry while the boys worked on the gift tags. Each of my boys pressed a thumb into the ink pad and stamped the plain white tags. I then used a black marker to turn their prints into ladybugs!

As a final step, I filled each can with freshly cut lilacs.

A closer look at the tags:

Now, the ironic thing in all of this is that Bill just so happens to be allergic to lilacs! So here I have all these wonderful bushes to take advantage of, but I can't keep the blooms in the house for any length of time! So I make sure to stop by the bushes on my morning walks around the yard - to breathe in their aroma and appreciate their varied and subtle shades of purple. As for today's lilac-filled cans - once they were assembled, they were placed in a basket and set out on the front steps to await the grandmothers' arrival. :)

Here are a few pictures I took as I cut the blossoms this morning. As you can see, the sun was just coming up and the bush was literally lit up from behind.

(I also came across tiny wild pansies hidden underfoot. They always make me smile.)

Before I go, I'd like to share a few pictures from our Mother's Day brunch:

Above you see a pretty wrought iron bird's nest candelabra - set against a white doily tablecloth sprinkled with rose petals. The small stone birds once perched on the side of a bird bath that cracked long ago. (I bought the candelabra at Target a few weeks ago.)

I filled a teapot with "fairy roses" in shades of blush and orange, and set out the cream and sugar. A lit candle shone within a butterfly cloche (also a recent Target purchase -how much do we love Target?):

I am so in love with this candle holder.

For coffee I also set out my white china tea cups but instead of using the matching saucers, I placed the cups these small acrylic plates:

I bought the plates ($1.99 each) to use at our little nature teas. I figured they were the right size, botanical in theme and fairly unbreakable. These too make me so happy - it's always the littlest things, isn't it? :)

Speaking of happy little things, here's my Mother's Day gift from Bill and the boys:

Earlybird made the butterfly at his social skills class - the body is his foot and the wings are his hands! Crackerjack drew the flower on the present. :)

A final note about lilacs ~ later this month we'll be taking a field trip with our Nature Club to the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain (just outside of Boston proper). Today was their annual Lilac Sunday - and they certainly had a beautiful day for it. The arboretum boasts over 180 varieties of lilacs and I hope when we visit in a few weeks there will still be some in bloom - but even if the lilacs have passed, there will certainly be plenty to see and admire. The Arnold Arboretum is the oldest public arboretum in North America and a leading center for the study of plants. Perfect for our May nature study.

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and I especially hope all the mamas had a relaxing and refreshing day. Thanks for stopping by my little corner this evening - I will see you all again sometime soon!

March 28, 2009

I cannot tell you how ridiculously excited I am to find snowdrops in our garden! I have always wanted to grow snowdrops - Anglophile that I am - but it was only last autumn that I finally made certain to purchase the bulbs. One blustery day last October Bill planted them for me ... but then he couldn't remember where he planted them! So I've been watching the ground for signs of these tiny spring heralds, and had just about given up hope, when Bill spied the above beauties this morning while raking the yard. Lol, he called me at the supermarket to tell me! The first thing I did when I got home (after putting away the frozen things, of course) was to run outside and take pictures. :)

Now see, this poem makes much more sense in the UK where (I believe) snowdrops pop up from the late winter ground. No matter ~ I will happily welcome these little blooms in whichever month they so choose to awaken - but I'll admit I'm glad there's no snow for them to stand in.

And now I am sorely tempted to dig out our copy of The Story of the Snow Children - though a decidedly winter tale (and therefore stored away with the wintertime books) - it does feature snowdrops on each beautifully illustrated page. But I'm still working on digging out the Easter books, so instead, I'll just enjoy this little tale I found online: The Snowdrop by Hans Christian Anderson. How did I ever miss this? What a sweet story!

I have to represent the snowdrops, our Merry Maids of March, at our nature table in some way. I'd love to make a Snowdrop Fairy - maybe something like the simple one described in All Year Round - because I could never hope to make one as pretty as this. A reasonable facsimile could be attempted, however, and now a quick trip to the craft store might be in order for tomorrow ... ;)

What have you found in your early spring garden?

Any surprises to share?

I hope you're all enjoying the weekend. I will see you all again sometime soon!

January 26, 2009

Good Monday morning, everyone! I hope your weekend was nice. They always fly by too fast, don't you think?

Here's a little peek at a project I worked on yesterday, while Bill had the boys out and about. (Technically I was supposed to be paying bills and planning lessons, but I took a little break to putter.)

Our learning room bulletin board has been empty for well over a month now, and I was trying to decide how to use it this year. I love the idea of using it as a current events board - filling it with newspaper clippings, etc. - but that takes a lot of maintenance. And to be honest, it bores the kids silly. (Maybe this will work better when they're all a little older.)

Anyway, I bought a set of wooden numbers a few weeks ago - "2009" - and decided they would look nice, painted and set at the top of the board. I chose to paint them black - which is, generally speaking, a strange color choice for me, but I thought they would pick up the black of the appliances in the kitchen just behind the board.

It's hard to tell in the photo, but the numbers also got sprinkled with some Martha Stewart "onyx" glitter. The glitter does catch the afternoon sunlight that fills the learning room most days.

After the pieces dried, I used a little mounting tape to secure them above the board.

Now, my plan is this ... As we move along through the year, we will print out a few pictures each month and attach them to the board. These photos will showcase our homeschool and family activities (field trips, nature walks, social gatherings, etc.) as well as the season at hand. So January will probably include the picture of the boys building Legos at Tufts, a family picture from my birthday party, snowstorm pics and the hanging icicle picture, etc. Each month I'll add more pictures, starting in the top left corner, and by the end of the year, we should have a whole Year@-a-Glance!

I'll post about this project again when I've added the first batch of pictures. And by the way, the sun is a wooden nursery decoration I've had since Crackerjack was little. The boys have outgrown it, but I haven't. :) I bought it here, but I don't think they carry it anymore.

So, if you have a spare bulletin board hanging around your house, consider setting up a Year @ a Glance photo display! It should be a fun and visual way to record your home- learning/family-living year! And what a great conversation piece, too.

Well, I'm off now to get this day started. Another cup of coffee is called for, I think. It is Monday morning after all. :)

January 19, 2009

As addicted as I am to office supply stores and the myriad materials found within, nothing beats the fun in making my own desk accessories! So, remember the pretty papers I showed you last weekend? Well, here's what I've been up to ...

The papers feature all those sherbert-y colors I love and the cutest little owls. I adore owls these days - and according to the scrapbook store lady, they are very "hot" right now. (Who knew, lol?) I bought several sheets in coordinating colors and patterns. These are all produced by a company called Sassafras. Check out that link - such cute papers! (They even have a blog here.)

So what kind of notebooks did I make up? We'll here we go ...

A budget & marketing notebook. A page to write out the month's budget and all the weekly expenses/shopping lists in between. I even made up a coupon packet for the back cover:

(I'll only add the coupons I'm planning to use each week. I'll take this notebook with me while I shop.)

Next comes a new gardening journal:

(That middle image is a rub-on.) I attached a pencil with some twine. When I walk around the yard making notes it's handy to have a pencil.

This will be a master-to-do list - just a running list of things to "remember."

This is a small assignments notebook I bought at the start of the year. I had intended to use it as a place to write down brief "teacher" notes each day, but I haven't really been using it like I thought - or at all. Maybe the paper will make all the difference, lol! Peeking out from the bottom is an alphabet ribbon pagemarker.

I am particularly excited about this little book. It is a blank "chipboard" tab book made by October Afternoon (a new favorite of mine) with 16 pages of soft, lined paper and 4 tabbed sections inside. I plan to fill it with notes for Earlybird's nature-based K-1 curriculum. Kind of a catchall for my thoughts regarding nature, learning, crafts and simple celebrations for each quarter of the year.

A peek inside:

I stamped those tabs myself, in case you couldn't tell, lol. They're not done very well, but they'll do. :)

I'm so scrap-happy right now, I had to use a little scrap to make a bookmark for myself. I added the monogram tag as an afterthought.

Speaking of monogram tags, I added a new pagemarker to my current journal:

Another little side-project today - gussying up my new clipboard (the one I posted about last year was long ago commandeered by the kids).

Those are scrapbook paper punch-out letters - I secured them with a length of clear mailing tape. I use this clipboard to hold any "action items" for the week.

Now, my final picture has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this post, but I wanted to share it anyway:

As you can see, we got a LOT of snow over the weekend! And in the foreground is one of my leftover birthday cupcakes ~ vanilla cake, penuche frosting. Oh, so very delicious. :)

Well, stay tuned! I still have lots of paper leftover, so there may be more notebooks to show you before long. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed a lovely long weekend. Thanks for stopping by ~ I'll see you all again sometime soon!

January 11, 2009

It's a cold, snowy day here (I say that a lot, don't I?) and we're all hunkered in for the afternoon. I don't really have time for a full-length post just now, but I can tell you I've been taking lots of pictures today - of craft projects, bookshelves and the nature corner, in particular.

January 06, 2009

The other day I mentioned the seasonal planners I am setting up for the new year. I wanted to share a little more about them, since I now have them ready to go.

Before I get started though, can I just mention how nice the winter sunshine feels today? It's pretty cold here (31 at the moment) but the sun seems so much brighter than it did just a month ago. On days like these, it's easy to lull ourselves into thinking that spring might not be all that far away ... of course, there's a storm coming in tonight, so that will put us right back in our place.

Anyway, back to those planners! Each one is assigned a season (there are six in all), and the whole set is coordinated with my household journal:

(Those are tiny alphabet stickers I bought at Michael's last month - for an Advent project that will now have to wait till next year - but I've been finding lots of uses for them anyway. I love how old-fashioned they look - they work well with the paper I chose.)

Setting up the binders was actually very quick and easy. I chose paper to match each season and cut them to fit inside the cover of a clear view-front binder. Then, inside each binder I placed a yellow index page, a print-out of my Themes and Plans for those months, looseleaf paper for project planning and the calendar pages. (I'll mark the individual projects with press-on tabs.)

Lastly, I placed alphabet tags on the spine of each binder signifying the months held inside:

Six Seasons to Plan:

Winter ~ January & February

Early Spring ~ March & April

Late Spring ~ May & June

Summer ~ July & August

Autumn ~ September & October

Holiday ~ November & December

I made room for all of the binders on my workspace shelves - see them tucked in there on the 4th shelf down?

They fit in rather well, and they're at an arm's length from where I sit when I work. (And by "work" I mean - teach, pay bills, plan meals, blog, plan, surf online ... etc.)

Well, I'm running out of time today but in a future post I'll list the projects that I have filed in each binder. Thanks for joining me here today. I hope your week is off to a good start! :)

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Welcome!

My name is Dawn and this blog is my little happy spot. 😊 I am mom to 4 boys - our oldest is in college, and our youngest is in diapers! I chat about lots of things here: family, food, faith, nature, books, crafts, organization, homeschooling and special needs (our 12 yo has Autism). Thanks for reading ~ I hope you enjoy your visit! ❤